The Chinese welded pipe market has remained sluggish amid soft demand from both foreign buyers and consuming industries in China. Domestic mills' offers have declined by RMB 50-100/mt ($8-16/mt), while local traders have cut their prices by RMB 90-210/mt ($15-34/mt) over the past fortnight on the back of low buying activity and the continuous decrease in raw material prices. Export offers of welded pipes from Chinese producers have decreased by a maximum of $10/mt during the period in question. Insiders have no confidence in the prospects for the market in the coming period due to weakening purchases from downstream sectors and they believe that in the traditionally busy months of September and October robust demand is unlikely to be achieved. The welded pipe price downtrend in China is unlikely to be changed in the short term.
Current offers of locally produced 2"-6" welded pipes of grade B as per ASTM A53 are being given to the Chinese domestic market at an average of RMB 3,700-3,870/mt ($603-630/mt) ex-works, while domestic offers of welded pipes of grade Q195-235 are at levels of RMB 3,100-3,450/mt ($505-562/mt) ex-works. These local market welded pipe prices include 17 percent VAT.
Traders in Shanghai are offering Q215-Q235 welded pipes made to GB/T3091 at around RMB 3,100-3,280/mt ($505-534/mt) ex-warehouse, while stockists in the cities of Tianjin and Beijing are offering similar pipes at RMB 2,930-3,200/mt ($477-521/mt) ex-warehouse.
Current export prices of welded pipes from large Chinese mills, 2"-10" grade B according to ASTM A53, are at around $570-600/mt FOB on actual weight basis.
$1 = RMB 6.14